Coolant control



June 19, 1956 Fig-/ N- W. GLUR COOLANT CONTROL Filed March 50, 1953 7 3.4 F I i i ,1

United States Patent COOLANT CONTROL Norris W. Glur, Grandlslaud, Nebr.Application March3l); 1953, Serial1No ..3.45,618= 1 Claim. (Cl. fil-29 1) This invention relates ingeneral to valve means, and morespecifically to a. coolant control for. liquid cooled internalcombustion engines.

-In order thatinternal combustion engines may operate at a. peakefiiciency, it is necessary thatttheir liquid coolant be. retainedbetween certain temperatures. In order to accomplish this, presentinternal combustion. engines are provided with a heat exchanger of, asizeto. retain the coolant below the operating temperature. The. lowertemperature of the coolant is retained during operation of an internalcombustion engine throughv the use of thermostats. However, inasmuchasan internal combustion engine does not operate under; the samevconditions at all times it is difiicult to maintain the coolant at. an.operating temperature. Also, when. thermostats are utilized to retain acoolant above a minimum teme perature quite often such thermostats willstick in an open position or in a closed position with the result thatthe coolant. for an internalf combustion engine does not remain at thedesired temperature.

it is therefore the primary object of this invention to provide acoolant control for internal combustion engines which may beconveniently controlled by an operator of an internal combustion engineso that. the temperature of a coolant may be manually retained. at anoptimum temperature for the particular engine beingoperated.

Another object of this invention. is to provide an improved manualcoolant control which. is of avrelatively simple construction and formedofreadily obtainable material'so as to be economically feasible.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved coolantcontrol for internal combustion engines which is manually operated andwhich may be conveniently placed in water outlet fittings of existinginternal combustion engines.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure l is an elevational view of a forward portion of a conventionalvehicle having mounted thereon the coolant control, which is the subjectof this invention, portions of the vehicle being broken away in order toclearly illustrate the position of the various portions of the coolantcontrol;

Figure 2 is an enlarged top plan view of a water outlet fitting utilizedin the vehicle of Figure l and shows the coolant control mountedthereon;

Figure 3 is an elevational view of the water outlet fitting of Figure 2and shows the manner in which the coolant control is manually actuated;and

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially upon theplane indicated by the section line 44 2. of Figure 3 and shows thegeneral construction of: the co'blant control.

Referring now to Figure 1 in particulanit-will. be seen that there isillustrated the front end. of a conventional vehicle. which is referredto in general by. the reference numeral 10. The vehicle 10 is powered byaninternal combustion engine 12 which is liquid cooled. The coolant,after it passes out of theinternal combustion. engine 12 is cooled inaradiator 1:4: mounted at the front end of the vehicle 10. Inorder thatthe coolant may be returned to the radiator 14, the internal combustionens gine 12 is provided with a coolant or water outletfitting 16. Itwill be understood that the coolant is circulated through the radiator14, the internal. combustion engine 12: and the coolant outletfitting'ldthrough the use. of a coolant pump (not shown) which isconventional with an internal combustion engine of the type illustrated.

Referring now to Figure2 in particular,. it will; be seen that thecoolant outlet. fitting 16 includes a mounting flange-18.- to facilitatesecurement of the coolant outlet fitting tothe internal combustionengine. 12. The coolant outlet fitting 16 also includes a curved tubularportion 29: through which a suitable coolant passes; out of the internalcombustion. engine 12 and into the. radiator-14:

Carried by the coolant outlet fitting 16 is'the coolant control which isthe subject of this invention; the coolant COI'ltl'Ola being referred.to in general by the reference numeral 22. As is best illustrated invFigure 4, the tubular portion 20'of the coolant outlet fitting 16 isprovided with a pair of horizontally aligned internally threaded bores24 and 26. Threadedly engaged in the bore 24 is a first. bushing 28'having a bore 30 therethrough; Threadedly engaged in the bore 26- is asecond bushing 32' which is provided with a longitudinal bore 34therethrough. The bores 30 and 34 are in transverse align.- ment andhave received therein. for rotation a transverse shaft 36.

In order that coolant may not escape between the transverse shaft 36 andthebores 30 and' 34;,-the transverse shaft 36 has one end thereofterminating; within the bushing 28. The. outer end portion of thebushing 28 is externally threaded as. at. 38 and hasa cap 40 threadedlyengagedv thereon to close the bore 3h.

It will be noted that. the bushing. 32 has. an outer end portion thereofexternally threaded as at 42 and has a packing retainer 44 adjustablyengaged thereon. Disposed within the packing retainer 44 and surroundingthe transverse shaft 36 is suitable packing 46. it will be understoodthat the packing 46 tightly surrounds the transverse shaft 36 andprevents the escape of coolant through the bore 34.

Carried by that portion of the transverse shaft 36 disposed within thetubular portion 20 is a control disk 48. The control disk 48 is circularin cross section, as is the tubular portion 243 and is of a size tocompletely close the tubular portion 20 to prevent passage of coolantthrough the coolant outlet fitting 16. The disk 48 is secured to thetransverse shaft by suitable fasteners 50.

in order that the coolant control 32 may be remotely actuated, thetransverse shaft 36 extends outwardly beyond the packing retainer 4-4.Adjustably mounted on the outer end of the transverse shaft 36 is agenerally Z-shaped crank arm which is referred to in general by thereference numeral 52. The crank arm 52 has one end thereof in the formof a split clamp 54 which is mounted on the outer end of the transverseshaft 36 for adjustment. The split clamp 54 is retained in an adjustedposition to the transverse shaft 36 by a fastener 56.

The outer end of the crank arm 54 is provided with a bore through whichpasses a fastener 60. The fastener has a threaded end thereof threadedlyengaged in an internally threaded bore 62 in a fitting 64. The fitting64 has a bore 66 therethrough into which the fastener 60 projects.Disposed within the bore 66 and adjustably clamped to the fitting 64 bythe fastener 60 is one end of a-flexible cable 68. The flexible cable 68is mounted in a flexible housing 70.

It will be understood that the flexible cable 68 and the flexiblehousing 70 are of the type of construction conventionally known as achoke control in the automotive trade and the flexible cable 68 isprovided at its end opposite from the coolant control with a mountingfitting 72 to facilitate mounting thereof on an instrument panel 74 ofthe vehicle 10. In order that the coolant control 22 may be remotelyactuated, the opposite end of the flexible cable 68 is provided with acontrol knob 76 which is conveniently positioned by actuation by adriver of the vehicle 10.

In order that the coolant control end of the flexible housing 70 may beproperly positioned relative to the crank arm 52, there is secured tothe coolant outlet fitting 16 by the bushing 32 a support arm 78. Thesupport arm 78 is generally L-shaped in outline and has a free end inthe form of a clamp 80. The coolant control end of the flexible housing70 passes through the clamp 80 and is retained in an adjusted positionrelative to the crank arm 52 by the same.

When the coolant control 22 is utilized, the operator of the vehicle 10,when the internal combustion engine 12 is first being started, pulls theknob 76 all the way out so as to rotate the control disk 48 to a closedposition; After the coolant for the internal combustion engine 12 haswarmed up to the desired operating temperature, as indicated by atemperature gauge (not shown) carried by the vehicle 10, the knob 76 ismoved in wardly to rotate the control disk 48 towards an open position.By occasionally watching the temperature gauge, the operator of thevehicle through the use of the coolant control 22 may retain the coolantfor the internal combustion engine 12 at the optimum tempera ture.Inasmuch as the coolant control 22 is connected to the actuator by theoperator of the vehicle 10, it will be seen that there is no possibilityof the control for the coolant of the internal combustion engine 12 tobecome inoperative so as not to reduce the desired results.

From the foregoing, the construction and operation of the device will bereadily understood and further explanation is believed to beunnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur 4 to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exactconstruction shown and described, andaccordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resortedto, falling within the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

In combination with a water outlet fitting adapted for use with aninternal combustion engine, a coolant control, said coolant controlcomprising a transverse shaft through said outlet fitting, a flowcontrol disk carried by said shaft'within said outlet fitting, means forremotely controlling the position of said flow control disk, saidtransverse" shaft having ends thereof journalled in bush ings removablycarried by said fitting, said shaft having one end terminating withinone of said bushings, said one bushing having a cap removably securedthereto and sealing the same against escape of coolants therethrough,said shaft passing through the other of said bushings, said otherbushing having packing associated therewith to prevent escape ofcoolants therethrough, said shaft having the other end thereofterminating outwardly of said other bushing, said means including acrank arm secured to said other end of said shaft outwardly of saidbushing, said crank arm being generally Z-shaped with the free enddisposed inwardly of the said other end of the shaft, a bracketclampingly supported between said fitting and said other bushing insurrounding relation to the shaft and extending outwardly in parallelrelation to the free end of said crank arm and terminat ing in spacedrelation thereto, and a cable secured to the free end of said crank armand supported by said bracket for sliding movement with respect theretofor controlling said disk whereby the free end of the crank arm,bracket, and cable are disposed inwardly of the other end of the shaft.7

References Cited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 443,326Leverich Dec. 23, 1890 1,524,865 Hughes Feb. 3, 1925 1,549,109 GoetzAug. 11, 1925 1,644,708 Blackmore Oct. 11, 1927 2,065,167 Wirth Dec. 22,1936 2,612,790 Moore Oct. 7, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 301,189 Great Britainof 1928 568,717 Great Britain 1945

